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Gangs/ ter /ism History & REPRESENTATION. Katharina Fink, MA University of Bayreuth, Germany [email protected] the Setting. the Achievements. the Network. the Way. the Future. the City of Bayreuth and its University. Bayreuth. Berlin. U niversity and festival city

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Gangs/ ter /ism History & REPRESENTATION

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Bundy, C (2007): “New nation, new history? Constructing the past in post-apartheid South Africa”. In: Stolten, H E (ed.), History Making and Present Day Politics: The meaning of collective memory in South Africa. Uppsala.

ESHU, The TRICKSTER

ESHU, The TRICKSTER

“As an example, Eshu was walking down the road one day, wearing a hat that was red on one side and blue on the other. Sometime after he departed, the villagers who had seen him began arguing about whether the stranger's hat was blue or red. The villagers on one side of the road had only been capable of seeing the blue side, and the villagers on the other side had only been capable of seeing the red half. They nearly fought over the argument, until Eshu came back and cleared the mystery, teaching the villagers about how one's perspective can alter one's perception of reality, and can be easily fooled.”

(http://www.crystalinks.com/trickster.html)

SO THERE ARE MANY SIDES TO ‘HISTORY’.

Who’s involved in ‘writing’ history?

Historical Event

(Life)

Studying Historical Event

(Book)

Who’s involved in ‘writing’ history?

Event

Observer/First Hand

Researcher/Questions/Interest

Testimony/Interview…

Transcription

Analysis/Comparison with other data/studies…

Writing Down/Editing

Publisher/Editing

Students/Public

Different perspectives

Perspective I:

Perspective II:

X writing (in) ‘history’

X writing about ‘history’

Herstory

Worker’s stories

Everyday life

Black history

Queer histories

…..

AND What does the media have to do with it?

Representation I

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X

AS IN POLITICAL REPRESENTATION---- ‘VERTRETUNG’

Representation II

‘Darstellen’ - as in language, media…

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X

Who is involved?

Who reads?

Who writes?

With which images/intentions?

With which images/intentions?

Who talks about it with whom?

Who edits?

Who buys?

How is it read/ embedded/ …?

bell hooks: reel to real. race, sex, and class at the movies (1996)

“Changing how we see images is clearly one way to change the world”

What does she mean?

representation.

“WE keep coming back to the question of representation because identity is always about representation. People forget that when they wanted white women to get into the workforce because of the world war, what did they start doing? They started having a lot of commercials, a lot of movies, a lot of things that were redoing the female image, saying, “Hey, you can work for the war, but you can still be feminine.”

“So what we see is that the mass media, film, TV, all of these things, are powerful vehicles for maintaining the kinds of systems of domination we live under, imperialism, racism, sexism etc. Often there’s a denial of this and art is presented as politically neutral, as though it is not shaped by a reality of domination.”bell hooks, Reel To Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies

representation.

WHAT IS A ‘GANG’?

“Agang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity.[1]” WIKIPEDIA

British soldiers in Afghanistan, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/05/two-british-soldiers-killed-helmand

What is a gang?

“By definition, gangs involve multiple individuals (the exact number of individuals it takes to constitute a gang is a hotly debated topic), typically of a similar age and/or shared experience, who may or may not co-offend (again, an important area of dissention).” (Oxford Bibliographies; http://www.oxfordbibliographiesonline.com/view/document/obo-9780195396607/obo-9780195396607-0028.xml;jsessionid=C0834400EEB1983B3AD7E761E8B9A00B)

“Gangs are defined in many ways, and most definitions have similar components. One common definition of a gang is a group of three or more individuals who engage in criminal activity and identify themselves with a common name or sign.”

While the term "a culture of violence" denotes the broad acceptability of violence, there are differences in the extent to which certain groups endorse violence. Gangs are an example of a subculture in which violence is particularly pronounced, and this is connected to the composition of its members and their societal location. With regard to township gangs, both the youth and maleness of their members encourage the use of violence, as a result of the strong association between masculinity and violence.

“Secondly, given the marginalisation of the members, violence offers a quick and easy method to level the social playing field, to make an impression on an otherwise indifferent society, to gain social approval (from fellow members), and to obtain power and pleasure. “

(both quotations from:

Collecting: Features of Gangs?

Group

Shared interest

Money and Power

Male

Symbols

Identity

“Unfortunately, legislation alone will not be able to deal with the problems of gangs. What is needed, is an holistic approach, socio-economic development and a crime prevention programme that incorporates rehabilitation for those who wish to turn away from gang activities. History has shown that the battle against gangs is also the battle of ideas and resources. If the hearts and minds of Western Cape communities cannot be diverted from a selective criminal morality to a more inclusive and caring one, the gangs will succeed in winning the marginalised sections far easier than may be imagine.”” I. Kinnes: THE FUTURE, GANGS AND SOCIETY. Published in Monograph No 48, From urban street gangs to criminal empires: The changing face of gangs in the Western Cape, June 2000. Online at: http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/MONOGRAPHS/No48/TheFuture.html

You can always get In touch…

what they don’t teach you

“I’ve been making a list of the things they don’t teach you at school. They don’t teach you how to love somebody. They don’t teach you how to be famous. They don’t teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don’t teach you how to walk away from someone you don’t love any longer. They don’t teach you how to know what’s going on in someone else’s mind. They don’t teach you what to say to someone who’s dying. They don’t teach you anything worth knowing.”